Rules and Guidelines for the Portal of Dreams Gorean Section are intentionally few. Whenever possible, Room Leaders are given the freedom and latitude to run their homes as they see fit. For this reason, the rules of privately run homes may differ from those of our Gorean GRP Rooms.
First and foremost, Portal of Dreams Site Rules take precedence over the rules of any privately run home located in the Gorean Section. Please read, respect, and adhere to all rules provided on or linked to the room entries of privately run homes and Gorean GRP Rooms.
Any rules specific to a particular GRP room can be found on its entry page. Please be sure to read any room entry in its entirety before entering. Ignorance is not an excuse.
Aside from the provisions detailed below, most situations simply require knowledge of Gor or a willingness to learn. Keeping your role-play as realistic to the Gorean novels of John Norman as possible will usually prevent most problems.
All role-players should attempt, in every instance, to accept whatever consequences come as a result of their actions during role-play. Should complications arise, we strongly encourage attempting resolution through reasonable and mature discussion with all parties involved, even in cases where the role-play will require judgement. However, regardless of outcome, no one will be forced, guilted, or coerced to leave one site for another if they are not comfortable in doing so.
Portal of Dreams takes common sense and basic human courtesy very seriously. If you choose to disrespect these Rules and Guidelines, your fellow Gorean role-players, or Site Staff, please be prepared to face consequences including but not limited to: a verbal or written warning; being removed from a room by a Room or Site Moderator; or being site banned, either temporarily or permanently.
If you have any questions or concerns pertaining to the Rules & Guidelines set forth on this page, please contact the Magistrate or Site Judge(s), the GROW Team, or a member of Senior Staff for clarification or conflict resolution.
Rules and Guidelines:
- Your character's name or use name must be Gorean in nature. Initials, room default or anonymous names, and improperly themed names such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer are not acceptable within any privately run home or Gorean GRP Room. Use names must be in your tags, not just in the av. The font for your characters name can be in black font while using your use name. It is the only time black font is allowed in your codes, thank you. But your characters name must be present.
- Accountability for OOC Actions: No Out-Of-Character actions or commentary are permitted in Gorean GRP Rooms. You are responsible for every word you utter, whether you are in character or not, and will be held accountable IN CHARACTER. Room Leaders reserve the right to discretion in this matter.
- MPG players! MPG needs to be visible in all of your tags/codes when in any GRP room, even if you are observing. You do not need to list your primary character, as they are all primary. You can have your tags any way you like them in your own homes. Any MPG player in a GRP room without the MPG in their tags will get one warning, and one warning only. MPG players can only capture/kill/collar other MPG players.
SPG players! If you have a secondary character, the previously existing rules for secondary characters will once more apply. You are allowed to bring your primary AND any secondary characters into any GRP room. As before, you must have tags stating "secondary character of -insert primary name here-" but can have your tags any way you like them in your own homes. Your secondary characters are only allowed into other privately run homes that allow such, and your secondary is still unable to collar/capture/kill or be collared/captured/killed.
- NPC Animals/Insects may be used to enhance a storyline but CANNOT kill or main any Non-NPC character. NPC animals can be used to augment the capture of a played character but must be realistically controlled by an actual played character in order for the capture to be considered valid (i.e., the played character of a Tuchuk plainsman role-playing the use of a prairie sleen to herd the played character of a runaway slave). No registration will be required by those wishing to play NPC animals/insects in Gorean GRP Rooms. As always, Room Leaders have final say on whether or not NPC animals/insects may be played in privately run homes. Please note that NPC animals/insects should be played realistically. Animals do not talk on Gor. Priest-Kings, Kurii, and Spider People are sentient humanoid races and do not count as animals/insects. Additionally, NPC animals/insects are not to be used for the purposes of observing, lurking, or causing disruption by chatting in an OOC fashion while others are trying to role-play.
- Travel within GRP Rooms requires mandatory use of location pull-downs to add validity to role-play and potential combat or capture judgements.
- Raiding/Wars: Room Leaders reserve the right to accept Raids and Wars and will indicate this on the room entry. Although PoD Raid Rules are the default raiding system, Room Leaders may use any Raid/War system desired but must provide or link said rules on the room entry.
- Capture & Escape Attempts in Gorean GRP Rooms must be realistically role-played between all parties involved and made with three (3) alternating posts apiece. Prospective captives must realistically defend all attempts while fleeing. If Captor(s) and Captive(s) cannot reach a mutually agreeable resolution without judgement, role-play scripts must be posted to the Judgements section of the PoD message boards for resolution either by judge(s) mutually agreeable to all parties involved or by a PoD Site Judge. The board post should indicate which judgement method is preferred. Criteria for and validity of captures and escapes in privately run rooms is subject to Room Leader discretion.
- Assassination Attempts: Many member-run Gorean homes -- particularly those in which the Room Leader judges combat and/or reserves the right to determine the legitimacy of any role-play that occurs in the room -- have rules stipulating that an Assassin must provide scripted proof of the validity of the mark before the Room Leader will accept the assassination attempt. The purpose is not to prevent character death but to ensure that the mark was not invented by the Assassin to carry out a personal vendetta, motivated by cross-character harassment, or stemming from an OOC dispute. To these ends, if the target of an assassination attempt which takes place in any PoD Gorean GRP room does not accept his/her death outright and the matter requires judgment, Portal of Dreams will now require all Assassins to provide scripted proof of the legitimacy of the mark immediately following the assassination attempt, which must be received by PoD Admin before any judgment is rendered. Proof may be sent to Portal of Dreams Admin via board private message or e-mail [seniorstaff@portalofdreams.com]; all information will be kept strictly confidential, and the identity of the individual who hired the Assassin will not be revealed either in-character or out-of-character. Marks will be deemed invalid if the conversation took place via Instant Messenger. If the mark was placed on another site, SCREEN CAPS must be taken of the interaction to ensure that the scripts were not doctored. If the interaction took place on PoD, we will verify the scripts by pulling server logs. While Gor is meant to be a venue for danger and excitement, it is not meant to be a place where site rules prohibiting cross-character and OOC harassment can be loopholed by hiring an Assassin whose mark cannot be fact-checked for validity. This rule applies only to PoD Gor GRP rooms; each Room Leader will handle such issues occuring in their home at their own discretion. We thank you for your understanding.
- Open Combat: All Open Combat in PoD Gorean GRP rooms shall DEFAULT to Alter Realm Open Combat (AR-OC) Rules for the entire duration of the encounter. The use of any other fight system by either party will result in the encounter being rendered null and void. Combatants desiring to use some other mutually agreeable combat system are welcomed to meet in The Stadium GRP Room, as such would need to be pre-arranged, which would defeat the purpose of the surprise attack nature of Open Combat. Please be aware that Portal of Dreams Site Judges reserve the right to abstain from judging any sort of Stadium combat which uses a combat system other than the AR-OC format. Please note: entering a PoD Gorean GRP room indicates an understanding of, and intent to comply with, all rules set forth on the room entry. Should a role-player be found to consistently respond to Open Combat challenges with a combat system other than Alter Realm Open Combat Rules in order to avoid and invalidate potentially unfavorable encounters, a default judgment will be rendered in the aggressor's favor (i.e., the target will be considered automatically killed or captured per the aggressor's stated intent).
- There is NO entering and pouncing. No kills, attacks, or captures will be honored if made during an entry post. You MUST travel into the area before joining any activity zone, ongoing battle, etc. You MUST exit properly before being safely outside the zone, as well. Likewise, no one may attack you during your entry posts, although you are permitted to defend against attack while simultaneously making your exit posts. All must make two entry posts before beginning any interaction with other people.
- Combat Judging for Gorean GRP Rooms: If parties involved in Open Combat within a Gorean GRP Room cannot come to a mutually agreeable resolution without judgement, role-play scripts must be posted to the Judgements section of the PoD message boards for resolution either by judge(s) mutually agreeable to all parties involved or Admin will pick one for you. The board posts should indicate which judgement method is preferred.
Unlike other portions of Portal of Dreams forums, where only the OP (Original Poster) may request the locking of a thread, a Judge may request for a thread to be locked once ruling is complete.
Refusal to honor the ruling of a Judge, including shelving or refusing to follow through on the consequences of your actions in a timely manner, can and likely will result in a ban from our Gorean section. If you cannot abide by these rules and subsequent consequences, please refrain from utilizing our Gorean GRP rooms.
